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Thread: Farmers join " right to repair" movement

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    Doylestown, PA
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    7,551
    Quote Originally Posted by michael langman View Post
    I read a long article about this last week, and it did not surprise me, after what happened to the JD dealership in the town across the river from me.

    They were shut down by JD after 115 years of excellent service to all the farms in my area. They were not bringing in enough money for JD to care about them.
    JD is turning it's back on the small dealerships and the small farmers.

    The man bringing suit against JD is a farmer turned mechanic who trys to keep the older tractors running for them, because the newer tractors are not as reliable, and risk crop failure and enormous repair bills with no safety nets. These are farmers with smaller farms. They are truly afraid for their futures.
    Mahindra or somebody will come along and fill that market need. Ask the "big 3" what happened when they chose to ignore the quality small car market.

  2. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Tom M King View Post
    That's one reason I'm completely redoing the guts of my 1978 John Deere. One dealer told me that "they didn't have a mechanic smart enough to redo the reverser" that needed work. In the process of working on it myself, I've found all sorts of stuff done wrong the last time one of them went in it. I've heard horror stories on them not being able to fix fairly new ones. I'm sticking with this 1978 model-not a farmer, but I use them for keeping up the Ponderosa.
    Gah that second photo gives me a stomach ache. Ive had to break my tractor in half a few times and for whatever reason I hate that process. Sliding it back together either goes slicker than snot or not at all. One time I had to remake the RTV gasket like 10 times because I struggled to get it to slide back together so long I was worried the RTV skinned over.

    Yuck. My machine has 5 splined shafts that all have to slide together timed just right.

  3. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Curt Harms View Post
    Mahindra or somebody will come along and fill that market need. Ask the "big 3" what happened when they chose to ignore the quality small car market.
    +1. I was thinking much the same thing Curt.
    "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

    “If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”

  4. #19
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Minneapolis, MN
    Posts
    5,427
    It is pretty much impossible to meet the new EPA requirements for larger offroad diesel engines without electronics of some sort. The real difference between manufacturers is how they handle the diagnostics software and equipment necessary to access the electronics.

    My employer has a garage to repair a fleet of vehicles. The software and hardware to do diagnostics costs several thousand dollars for each brand of engine. There is also a yearly subscription fee of $400 to $1000 on top of the initial purchase cost.

  5. #20
    Join Date
    Sep 2016
    Location
    Modesto, CA, USA
    Posts
    9,889
    In California Diesels over 25? hp have to meet current emissions laws. They have to be upgraded or tossed even stuff like irrigation pumps which are 50 years old.
    Bil lD

  6. #21
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    Medina Ohio
    Posts
    4,516
    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Dufour View Post
    In California Diesels over 25? hp have to meet current emissions laws. They have to be upgraded or tossed even stuff like irrigation pumps which are 50 years old.
    Bil lD
    That's why people are leaving Cali

  7. #22
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Lake Gaston, Henrico, NC
    Posts
    8,973
    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Bolton View Post
    Gah that second photo gives me a stomach ache. Ive had to break my tractor in half a few times and for whatever reason I hate that process. Sliding it back together either goes slicker than snot or not at all. One time I had to remake the RTV gasket like 10 times because I struggled to get it to slide back together so long I was worried the RTV skinned over.

    Yuck. My machine has 5 splined shafts that all have to slide together timed just right.
    I had plenty of helpers that offered to help, just for fun. It ended up being a fun time for all. I actually split it twice. Once between the engine, and clutch housing, to redo the forward clutch pack, and then between the clutch housing, and the rear end to redo the reverse brake. That splitting stand I made using scaffolding feet allowed a little tilting, and didn't require taking off the loader brackets. I used some outside measuring dividers to get the spacing perfect, top, and bottom, before we eased it together.

    Both rejoins required some back, and forth, and adjusting splines, and gears, but it wasn't too bad, with all the help. No RTV required with all new gaskets.

    That's a 70hp Category 2 tractor. If I ever split a bigger one, I'll either buy, or make a rail system for the two halves. Anything larger would be too much to manhandle.

    I replaced every wear part in the reverser system, including a new transmission pump, and all new oil lines, not using aftermarket parts, and have $3200 in parts. It would have been at least a 15,000 job, and not as particular a rebuild as I did. It's as strong as a new one now, and operates a lot quieter.
    Last edited by Tom M King; 03-18-2020 at 6:25 PM.

  8. #23
    Our son, a couple years back got a call from local heavy equipment dealer. Seems they had a loader with "joy stick" controls, that not only had their shop guys, but factory service guy couldn't fix. Wanted to know if he was willing to tackle problem, which he did. First he got a copy of service manual and read it. Then he asked what had been done, all of which he undid. Second day he put it all back together. Dealer offered him a job on the spot, but he refused. He owns his own business, with a waiting list of others wanting his services. As a side note to this thread, the second richest man in Canada owns a string of JD dealers.

  9. #24
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    Lake Gaston, Henrico, NC
    Posts
    8,973
    Amazing how straight forward it is when you go by the service manual. Anyone who had ever worked on this old tractor of mine, which had been more than once, with dealers at least twice, obviously did not do that, but tried to figure it out on their own.

  10. #25
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Somewhere in the Land of Lincoln
    Posts
    2,546
    Printed service manuals are becoming scarce. They want to do it all online or in digital format. Huge price difference too. Printing is expensive these days.

    Joystick not functioning? Only two styles. Electric or hydraulic. Hydraulic is normally pilot operated. You only have to set the pressure on those. Commonly around 500 PSI sometimes lower. Electric uses proportional control if it's a progressive control. Some joy sticks have to be programmed for the correct voltage outputs. They have a circuit board in them and an EPROM. Erasable programmable read only memory=EPROM. Not knowing the machine there are certainly specialized variations but that's the commonly found versions.

  11. #26
    Quote Originally Posted by Tom M King View Post
    If I ever split a bigger one, I'll either buy, or make a rail system for the two halves.
    That was the route I went. I setup a set of rails and leveled the tractor left loader on and front end on the ground to keep the trans from rotating and slid the rear straight back on the rails (no rear wheels). I thought it was a perfect solution in that one slide back together dry would get everything aligned, make the RTV gasket, and slip it back together. For whatever reason even with 3-4 smooth dry runs something would foul up on the wet run lol. The rear cases on this were all RTV'd from Massey and I was more comfortable with that long term than any conventional gasket.

    Absolutely smart to swap everything possible while your in there or at least thorough inspection. I know a lot of guys that enjoy that work but its not what I consider a good use of my time lol.

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